Second Chances
by DabblesInDrabbles
Summary: What would you do if you could take it all back?
1. A Warm Welcome

**Hello! I am writing this to break my writer's block! Which has been a beast! Sorry to those of you waiting for a prompt fill! *cough* Jamiwami *cough***

**PS- I am holding a portal fic competition! I am going to try to make this an annual thing. If you see a story that you would like entered, let me know. The voters will be the readers. The top three winners will each get a steam game from me. So get out there and get writing! :)**

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><p>"Really now. Haven't you slept enough in one lifetime?"<p>

Her eyes snapped open at the sound and almost immediately squinted shut again in regret. That bright, cold light was merciless on her now apparent headache.

Half curling on her side, she clutched her pounding skull and let out a soft whimper. She could feel the crisp starchy sheets that tangled themselves around her as she rolled into a protective ball against the intrusiveness of it all.

"I know you can hear me. And I'm not amused. Assuming the fetal position against an 80 watt bulb does nothing to impress me. In fact, it only embarrasses me. If you had any social grace you would feel ashamed too. So. Get. Up."

She hefted the pillow that she was currently nuzzled into and promptly dropped it back down over her head. Ever so quick to offer it's opinion, the voice called out, slightly muffled by the flat cushion that was now adorning the suffering woman's head.

"As much as I would love to see you smother yourself with that brick of a pillow, we have business to attend to, and things to discuss. Neither of which I will be doing with you if you continue to rot in that bed. Besides, that is not something that you should be doing right now, it will only hurt more later. I am not going to leave you alone this time. Now, for the last time. **Get. Up.**"

Annoyance combined with the general irritability that came along with migraines drove her to push beyond the comforting darkness of her 'helmet' and confront the owner of that taunting voice, ready to dispense with some choice 'advice' of her own.

...And promptly found that no one was in the room.

How peculiar.

She could have sworn that someone was _just _talking to her. In fact, it had even sounded like they were right next to her.

Her eyes traced the perimeter of what looked to be a hospital room. Well, it _would_ have been a hospital room. If not for the fact that she was the only bed in the entire room. Everything else was just sterile white tiles in a well lit room. Not even a window was in sight. Everything was just empty and devoid of life.

She noted with increasing anxiety that there wasn't even a door for her to try and get out through.

But...the place couldn't have been empty...

Where was the woman that was bossing her around moments ago?

And thinking about it, there was only one other place that she still hadn't checked yet.

Somewhat regretfully, she slipped her legs out from her warm cocoon of stiff bleached blankets and turned to plant them solidly on the cold tiles of the floor. Slowly easing herself off of the sturdy mattress of the infirmary bed, she pushed herself up (and my **god **was she _stiff... _and _sore!_) and shakily stood.

Unsteadily, she tottered forward a few testing steps. Then, turning around she carefully bent down to her hands and knees and peered underneath the bed.

Nope.

No one was there.

So where the hell was the voi-

"Are you quite done?"

That voice seemed to come from everywhere all at once. She couldn't pinpoint its source.

"Why are you looking around? What are you afraid that you lost a few pounds or something? Don't worry. You didn't lose any of the-"

"Where are you hiding!"

"...What?"

"You heard me! Where are you hiding? You're not in this room, that's for damn sure. Come out and show yourself!"

"...What on _earth_, are you talking about?"

She cast her eyes wildly around the room, looking for a weapon, a shield, _anything_, to try and defend herself with. The only thing she found lying near the bed was a small bag of a clear fluid hanging from a pole. Her eyes followed the line that was dangling off of the baggie to its very end where she found a needle laying in the air. Its end was colored in what looked to be fresh blood. Slowly, she looked down at her own hands, realizing that her left hand had a fresh bandage wrapped on it. Peeling it back she looked at the wound.

One tiny puncture mark dotted with a bright red dot.

Paranoia kicking in, she hurried over to the bag, stumbling over her own weak legs more than once in the process, looking at the labeling in an attempt to discern what exactly she had been injected with.

"Its only fluids. You were...asleep for quite awhile."

Sharply looking up, eyes darting around the room for a lack of something to focus her ire on, she barked, "What kind of fluids? Why was I asleep? How long?"

"A simple saline solution. To keep you hydrated," the voice echoed coolly.

"How do I know it was only that!"

"I know its hard for you, but maybe if you try reading the label, you can get better information."

Curling her lips into a frustrated snarl, she snatched the bag off of its perch and scanned the label.

It innocently read back in big bold letters **Saline**, along with many other chemical names that she could hardly even pronounce.

"I must say that I thought that we were past all of this by now. Are you trying to break my heart again? Because honestly, right now I'm a little hurt by all of this."

"...Again?"

"Yes. While my feelings are not as primitive as yours are, I can attempt to describe what I am going through on a broken down level such as your own."

"...Where _am_ I?"

The tiny room got so deadly quiet that she found herself holding her own breath in anticipation. Anticipation for what, well...she didn't quite know. It was silent for such a long awkward stretch that she started to grit her teeth in discomfort.

"...There is a camera in the top left corner of the room in the direction you are facing. Walk to it."

She jumped slightly when the voice finally spoke up again, and it took a moment for her to regain her composure. Glancing up at the aforementioned spot, she found that indeed, there was a camera. And from the looks of it, it had been tracking her every movement since she had gotten out of that damn bed.

Cautiously she made her way over to it. Her stiff limbs aching in protest at her wandering.

"Look up directly into the lens. Do not look away until I say otherwise."

"Why? What are you looking fo-"

"DO- as I say."

Well. That tone brokered no argument.

Standing directly underneath the dull red glow of the camera, she complied with the voice's orders and stared unwaveringly into its depths.

"Hmmm...pupils are not dilating. Focusing seems normal. Awareness seems slow. Well, we can rule out a concussion...Look to your right please."

She complied, turning her head, and fighting a sudden wave of nausea that roiled through her.

Her discomfort must have shown on her face, because the voice keenly took note of her reaction.

"Feels symptoms approaching motion sickness when moving field of vision. Wound appears to be healing nicely. So that's not the issue."

_Wound?_

Frantically her hands flew up to her scalp, and yep, there it was. A long thin line of what felt to be stitches traced a line from the nape of her neck and curled almost around to her temple. It should have hurt. Instead, she realized as her fingers felt the fine bristles of her partially shaved hairline, she didn't feel a thing.

Eerily fast, the voice picked up on her confusion.

"I used a localized opioid to treat the area. If I didn't, then you would currently be screaming in agony at what you are doing right now."

Tracing the tiny knots that were stitched into her skin, she felt her being start to close in on itself. Like a flower, folding in its petals to protect itself from the cold.

There was so much that she didn't understand. And this voice, this disembodied voice, sounded like it wasn't going to offer much help. In fact, it rather seemed like it was going to only complicate things.

"You know, I am rather shocked by this whole outcome. I mean, you handled being hit by the explosion from that _moron's_ bombs much, much better than this. Although, that too required surgery. So I guess you can say that this is the third time that I've spared your life. Which is three more times than you can claim. Actually, considering that you've tried to kill me twice, _and let that idiot put me into a potato_, I think that we can both agree that my efforts are now doubled in value as compared to yours. You monster."

She tried to voice her confusion, she really did.

But...

This was just too overwhelming. It was too much, too much for right now.

She lost her words.

She could not find the will to speak. Not now...

"...What? It was only a joke. No need to get sensitive about it."

She started to pant, looking for a breath that was suddenly hard to find.

"...You look pale. Are you alright?"

Her fingertips felt numb. Her heart was racing. She heard a roaring in her ears.

Distantly she heard the voice saying something...but the words were lost to her.

"Chell? Chell. Listen to me. You need to calm down. You are going to have a panic attack if you do not calm down. Chell. Chell! Calm down!"

Too absorbed in the way that her body was starting to refuse to respond to her, the irony that now the voice seemed to be panicking was lost on her.

The roaring was deafening. Black was beginning to edge in on the corners of her vision. But she reached out within herself, and found her last vestige of strength: a thin vein, born of pure force of will. It was with this stubbornness that she clung to her fading consciousness.

Sinking to her knees, she focused on taking deep slow breaths.

Eventually the roar died down to a slow steady beat, as she began to relax. Her heart was no longer thudding against her chest, threatening to burst from her rib cage. Her pulse had cooled down to one approaching normal.

She heard the soft murmurings of the voice, whispering reassurances that she was ok now. That she was safe.

Peeling open eyes that she hadn't realized that she had closed, she jerked violently at the sight of the ring of large metal arms that had appeared from between the now flipped up floor panels and now had surrounded her. Ready to catch her if she had given in, and passed out.

Exhausted, but not willing to give in just yet, she picked herself up once more to a standing position.

Weakly, she pressed through the ring of arms, which slithered back to their places underneath panels and tiles. She limped over to the dull ruby lenses of the camera and licking her cracked lips, gave it a penetrating stare.

"Who are you?"

She never knew that dead silence could be so loud.

"Who...Who am _I_?"

She heard a small, unintentional gasp escape from the voice before it was violently stamped out with a crackle of static.

"...You don't..."

"...You..."

"...You don't remember do you?"

She could see her own look of despair, reflected in the glass of the camera's lens.

"...You don't remember _a thing_...do you?"

The voice seemed to be rather intrigued by her dilemma... even a bit..._excited_. But now, having had the rage and confusion bled dry from her, the only thing she had left to feel was a deep sense of frustration...and oddly enough, nostalgia. As though some of these blank spots in her head had been there before...

Numbly, she shook her head.

"Oh...Ha...Well then...This is going to be ..._good_..."


	2. A Best Friend

"So...you have amnesia."

The voice echoed eerily (almost _giddy_ if she could say otherwise) throughout the long hallway she found herself walking in. It was the only noise in the place, other than the sharp clicks of her strange-looking boots.

"For the fourth time, yes. I don't remember anything, and no, I don't remember you either," she grunted out, annoyance making the words come out in a growl.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Its just that this..._unfortunate_ situation is still such a shock to me. I just had to put this on record. I'll file it away now. Well, I'm sure that you have a lot of questions, don't you? ...And I'm sure you're just _dying_ to know what's going on...aren't you?"

It was all she could do to hold herself back from rolling her eyes. It wouldn't do for the voice to become angry with her attitude now. Especially since she noticed that the bright red glow of a camera was positioned every couple of feet away from each other. The red dots lined up all the way down the ghostly hallway, a line of sentries to guide her path. They were the only splash of color in this place, other than herself. So, it was with the utmost dignity that she spared a nod towards the nearest camera, never breaking her stride to do so.

A soft chuckle told her that the sharp eyes of the camera picked up on her answer.

"Well, don't worry. I would _love_ to answer all of your questions. Together we will fill in those blanks, and everything will be _perfect_. Sort of like writing a novel, don't you think?"

"..."

"Well, a non-fiction one, that is," the voice finished quickly.

There was something about the **eagerness** of the voice that made the hair on the back of her neck rise. In response to what, she could not say.

Come to think of it, the voice itself seemed rather inhuman. It was far too modulated and smooth. There was no crack in the voice as vocal chords grated out sound. There was no pause during it's speech to take in any kind of breath. Instead, it flowed smoothly, its tone rising and falling as fluidly as a song would. It was almost melodic. It was absolutely unnerving.

And, also, how was it able to control those panels? She had deduced rather early on that it was the woman's voice that had control over them. When the walls of the 'infirmary', as the voice liked to call that prison cell, tessellated apart, they transitioned neatly into her current path. The one that she had been following now, after having been beckoned to, by the mysterious woman.

Her mounting headache was probably going to kill her by the end of thi-

"Why have you stopped?"

Huh?

Oh. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice that she was only standing there, staring off into space.

"Sorry. I was just thinking."

The red back-lights that graced the hallway had all slowly turned to zero in on her face.

Creepy.

She pressed forward, acutely aware of the eyes that were watching her.

"...Mmmm...Don't think so hard. Your head went through quite a lot of trauma. Why don't you leave the thinking to me for now? I have taken good care of you thus far. Yes...You can trust me. I will handle this... At this time, your only job is to get better, and to Leave. Your. Stitches. **Alone**."

She snatched her hand back as though it was burned, from where she was unconsciously tracing the wicked hooked curves of the wound.

"Sorry! Sorry. I was just- I mean- do you think this will leave a scar?"

"Yes. It will," came a flat reply, and she couldn't hide her taken aback expression at the sudden change in its mood.

"Oh... Well, at least I can hide it when my hair grows back in..."

For a while an uncomfortable silence reigned over the hallway. But, that was fine. It let her have some time to herself. To try and process her current situation. To wake up in an unfamiliar world, let alone to not even know who you were...it was overwhelming. She found herself beginning to feel somewhat detached from it all, but not before she heard a soft whisper crackle over the speakers.

"...It almost left you dead, too."

She jerked in surprise and glanced up at the nearest bead of red.

"...It was that bad?"

Silence threatened to overtake the two of them once more as the camera stared back solemnly.

"...Listen... Things may not make much sense to me right now. In fact, to be completely honest with you, I really don't understand what's going on at all. But...I _need_ to know...I need to know what happened to me."

"..."

"_Please._"

"Take the second left down the hall. Go through the door on your right. I am waiting for you at the end of that walkway."

"Thank you," she sighed with relief.

Pushing her sore legs just a little bit harder, she made her way down to an old looking door. The white paint on it nearly chipped away by age. She grasped its handle, and twisted it open, walking past the threshold.

And was immediately over taken by deja-vu.

A long glass tunnel stretched out over a void. On the very end, a heavy looking set of double doors, guarded the source of all her answers. She should have been excited. She should have felt relief.

Then why was it that her breath was caught in her throat?

Calling once again, on that strange force of inner strength, she pressed on, past the crushing feeling of anxiety. Past the growing feeling of dread. Past the demons that she couldn't recall.

The rap of her boots echoed in the gloom of the catwalk as she made her way up to the doors. Hesitantly, she raised her hand, but before she could strike her knuckles against it, the doors hissed and pulled apart. The room beyond was black, casting shadows with hints of red light not unlike those from the eyes stationed out in the hallway.

"Come in," the voice called, all previous humor having been drained dry.

It was time for answers.

She obliged.

She stepped inside, the darkness embracing her. Seconds after she cleared the entryway, the doors snapped shut behind her, locking with a metallic click. Well, no turning back now...

She squinted, trying to peer through the room for her 'guide' and quickly flinched back as a piercing amber light burned in the murk.

"I suppose that you want some answers..."

"Well, of course, but what I really would like right now is some light. I want to see you."

"...I like it this dark. Its calming. And besides... _I can see you perfectly fine._"

She shuddered involuntarily.

"But, _I_ want to know who you are. I want to see who saved me. I mean, it was _you_, right? There's no one else here and I-"

Lights snapped on, bright white scalding her eyes and leaving spots in her vision.

"_Fine. _It would have had to have happened sooner or later anyway."

Cracking her eyes open, she found herself staring at what had to be the _largest machine known to man._

She gasped.

_Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center._

"_What?_" she called out in alarm.

"I said, 'are you alright'? You've been staring for longer than necessary. Or appropriate. But then, you were never one for manners anyway."

Longer than necessary? She could stare at this behemoth with the birdsong of a woman's voice all day and **still** feel utterly shocked.

And yet...

It was _so __**familiar**_...

"Are you the one who saved me?" She hated how soft her voice sounded.

"Yes. Yes, I am." came a surprisingly gentle response.

"I am the Genetic Life form and Disk Operating System," it stated, pride reflected in each syllable.

But the name seemed too long...It wasn't right. A ghost of a whisper curled in her ear.

"GLaDOS."

"Hmmm?" the machine murmured, slowly rocking its frame in the hypnotic sway of a pendulum.

"They called you GLaDOS," she said slowly, trying to affirm the lingering wisp of what could have been a memory.

The yellow gaze flicked over her body, lingering on her stitches before settling back on her face.

"Yes. Good, that's very good. You seem to be remembering some things now."

Huh.

Well, that was a relief. This amnesia was only going to be a temporary bump in the road.

"And- and my name? What was my name?"

"Chell. Your name is Chell."

It fit.

This time, the name felt right. She agreed with a nod.

"Chell, listen to me."

She approached GLaDOS until she was standing a few feet away from the gold light of the machine's eye.

"You _will_ get better. You _will_ heal from this. Especially since I am here to watch over you. "

She cracked a smile at the reassurances, but couldn't ignore the unreasonable thin curl of alarm that ran through her.

"Thank you by the way, for all that you've done," Chell said, relief pulsing through her being.

For a moment, the computer seemed surprised. As if she had never seen gratitude before.

...Was Chell an ingrate before all this? She hoped that she at least had some manners...

"Oh, no need to thank me...Its what _friends_ do."

Something _wanting_ in GLaDOS's tone made her look up, eyes meeting an intensely bright optic.

"...Friends?-"

"-_Best_ friends," the computer purred. "The kind of friends that are very close with each other. That leave no secrets between them."

Chell's question sounded flat compared to the building passion that was expressed in the robot's implication.

"We're best friends?"

"Oh yes. The very best. Friends of friends. The kind of friends that always tell each other what's on their minds. What they're thinking of. Any _plans_ they might have. How they feel. What they want the other to do. You know...The **loyal** ones. The ones that would do _anything_ for each other."

Chell watched her swaying quicken by a fraction.

"Anything?"

"_Anything. _Friends do favors for one another. Me saving your life...That was only an example of how we were. How we **still **_**are**_. Chell..."

She looked back at the golden optic which seemed to be staring back into her own eyes in earnest.

"Tell me, right now. What is it that you're feeling right now?"

Chell heaved a sigh and rubbed her temples.

She _felt_ like she had been beaten and thrown off a cliff to be honest. She really just wanted to go to sleep, and that when she woke up next, everything would be back to normal.

Whatever normal was.

"Honestly? I- I think I'm insane. I'm talking to what appears to be a giant computer inside some abandoned building. Business? Lab? Is this place a lab?"

She had the inkling it could be...

GLaDOS nodded.

"Technically you could say that this place was _both._ We are currently located within Aperture Science's Computer Aided Enrichment Center. This is the Main AI Control Hub. Where _I _reside."

Yes. This felt correct too.

Chell's posture began to lose the wire tight stance that she had been keeping herself in. GLaDOS had seemed to be pretty honest with her so far. None of her answers seemed to be raising any significant alarm bells.

I mean, if something were truly _wrong_, she would remember or at least get some general dreadful feeling...right?

It just didn't feel right to keep such a guarded attitude up in front of a being that so far had done nothing but be helpful and answer her questions. And surprisingly honest at that. A being that apparently was her best friend before this fiasco.

Yeah...They had to have been best friends of some sort. There was no one else here to help her. GLaDOS had to have been the one to save her. It wasn't as though she had anything to give to the machine either. So, it seemed to be the case, that GLaDOS had given her medical attention out of pure benevolence. She sighed with exhaustion from keeping her guard up for so long. The nervous feeling abated but never quite went away.

The AI which had been scrutinizing her reaction to this, (had been monitoring her closely ever since she had stepped into the chamber, really) caught her deflating posture, and drew closer to her.

"Do you trust me?" she asked suddenly.

"...Yeah. I-I do trust you, GLaDOS." There was no one else _to _trust...

The yellow light slit almost shut in what had to be pleasure.

"_Wonderful._"

Chell gave her a small, tight-lipped smile. A new swell of anxiety rose within her chest for a few seconds before she trampled it down.

"Do you want to know what else friends do for each other?"

She barked out a small laugh.

"And what would that be?"

GLaDOS's optic seemed to be smiling.

"_Testing._"

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><p><strong>(AN:) So far I have three nominees up for the contest: Vaniterra, , and Infinite Finale are all in the competition. **

**If you have a story or author that you would like to vote for, please let me know!**

**And thanks for reading! :)**


	3. A Personal Favor

"Testing?"

The golden optic on the machine's faceplate seemed to grin back at her.

"Yes. To see how you are holding up after being _out of commission_ for so long."

GLaDOS watched her carefully as Chell bit her lower lip in thought. Vague memories of when she was young pulled at her, but never succeeded in dragging her from reality.

"I'll try...but I mean- I don't have a pen or paper or anything..." she trailed off and blushed in embarrassment as a melodic laughter bounced off the walls of the room.

"No, I don't mean _those_ kinds of tests. You were finished with those the day you graduated from school. Which you did, by some strange miracle. That or an indolent teacher... but I digress. I mean tests that are more along the _scientific_ kind."

Chell didn't know how to feel about that one. She could sense that GLaDOS's earlier sweetness was beginning to wear thin with Chell's uncertainty of her situation.

"What do you mean?"

"The tests that I have in mind will measure your endurance as well as your physical and mental dexterity."

O...kay. Well that still didn't really answer anything other than the fact that this test meant she had to be moving around.

"Oh, don't worry. You will do very well with this simple test that I have planned for you. I have the utmost confidence in you."

Chell grimaced at the thought of running a gauntlet no matter how trivial it was. Her body still felt as though it had been run through a grinder. She couldn't help the tight grimace that tugged the corners of her mouth down.

"This task is nothing major. I would never endanger one such as yourself whilst performing tests. Especially since you are still convalescing. Once you've finished, you can come back and relax. I'll have something better prepared for you once this task is completed."

Relaxing _would_ be nice. The gentle tone that GLaDOS had taken on proved that she understood how Chell was currently feeling. But still, she didn't see the urgency in doing this 'test'. The robot said it herself (itself?), she was in no shape to go scurrying about for the sake of some stupid science project.

"Couldn't it wait?"

"NO! ...No. It cannot. It is imperative that you do this test. You always were good at tests. Empirical evidence would suggest so. This simple, easy test will provide me with important information towards your well being. It will also..._enhance_ my capabilities to help you. Don't you want me to help you?"

Chell blinked in surprise. "I- Well, yes, but-"

"Good! Then please walk to the antechamber on your left," the machine chirped happily.

A pair of slate-gray panels split apart and opened the way to a new catwalk, not unlike the one that she had passed through earlier. Carefully, Chell walked over to the new hallway, and grimaced as she heard the uneven fall of her footsteps as she limped along. When she paused to glance down the corridor, she found that despite being well lit for the most part, the very end had lights that flickered sporadically before they completely cut off and plunged the rest of the path in darkness.

All in all, very ominous.

Chell clenched her teeth with a sharp click. Well, she'd come this far. No backing down now, especially not if this was going to get that _thing_ to help her out some more. Sharply nodding to herself, she pushed herself forward past the opening panels and into the hall.

"Wait."

Chell tossed a glance back over her shoulder back at the towering machine which was still eerily observing her with its golden optic.

"Before you go any further. Here. Take this with you."

The wall peeled apart to reveal a small mechanical claw that reached out towards Chell. Clutched in its tiny grip was a small silver box with a large blue lens on the front and a short black antennae on its top. Peering closer at it, she flinched when the blue glass suddenly flashed itself on in her face. At the same time, the little claw had decided that now was the optimal time to toss Chell its cargo, and with a small wind up, it carelessly did just that.

Seeing her vicious 'present' start a free fall, Chell gasped and instinctively dove for the floor, unfortunately catching it before it could meet a well deserved fate of being shattered on the floor.

"What is it?" she grumbled, rubbing the stars out of her eyes as she tenderly picked herself up off the ground.

"A vital testing apparatus."

"Do not destroy it," GLaDOS added as an afterthought.

…._What_? Then why act so callous with it in the first place! This place...was just getting stranger and stranger. Chell had half a mind to just stomp on it and end this insanity right now.

"Its for your own safety you know," the machine said carefully. "So it would be in both of our interests that you take good care of it."

Unable to stop herself this time, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. Attitude or not, this robot deserved to know that she thought this was getting ridiculous.

The yellow eye on the bot narrowed in (presumably,) frustration and the walls reassembled themselves with a sharp snap.

Chell huffed. _Whatever. _And with that, she marched off into the unknown.

With a best friend like this, who needs enemies?

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><p>Thirty-four minutes into 'the Test' and Chell had changed her opinion on the device that GLaDOS had made such a fuss over. She had passed the lit portion of the hallway and had found herself walking into a series of blacked-out rooms that definitely seen better days. Old offices and cavernous rooms filled with old buttons and boxes marked the path that the AI was currently content to lay out for her.<p>

She felt like she would have known these places had they not looked like Armageddon had occurred in there. The walls were blackened with soot and ash. Lights were either burnt out or completely shattered into millions of tiny shards. Monitors that looked as though they should have been lit up and churning out information, were instead fizzled out and broken. ...Had a bomb exploded here? Did someone attack this place? She stepped neatly around a fallen filing cabinet, eyeing a report about human genetics. ...Maybe some_thing_ attacked here... Either way, this place was completely annihilated.

She almost started to wish she was back in the well lit hub with her self-proclaimed 'best friend'. She would absolutely take sarcasm any day, over this dead crypt of a chamber.

Attempting to squint through the impenetrable darkness had Chell thrusting out the luminous apparatus in front of her just so that she could see where her tenuous steps fell. She took a breath... and let it out in a low growl of frustration.

Yes. Her opinion on the testing apparatus had definitely changed.

"Now turn left. No! You overshot it! You were gimping too quickly. Stop lumbering around and _look_ at your surroundings."

For the worse.

"Are you _sure_ you don't feel over-taxed? Be honest with me. I can wait."

"**Yes**. I am **fine.** **Stop asking me.**"

"Fine. But you're still getting a mandatory physical after this. Your reaction times are too slow. Nothing like the way they were before."

Once again, Chell found herself dangerously close to just hurling the flashlight / intercom / tracking beacon / _**whatever the hell this thing decided it was**_ into the nearest wall and being done with it. But, according to GLaDOS, she was within a five-foot radius of what she was looking for.

She let out a half growl.

"I thought this was 'just a simple walking test'!" Chell gritted out.

"It **is**. And you are failing **horribly**. You should feel grateful that I am here to help you out."

"_Help me?_ The only clue you're giving me is to 'look for a small black orb'. What the hell kind of help is that?"

"Listen, I _would _help you more if I could. But, I am not allowed to interfere with test subj-" Whatever GLaDOS was going to say next was lost to Chell as a wave of white noise flooded the speakers.

"-ERE! That thi- ** hsst ** -ight there! That's the problem! Ok, Chell. Here is what I need you to do: I need you to take that orb and destroy it."

Lying innocently a mere foot in front of her was a small obsidian orb. A small bead of green light blipped on it occasionally, suspiciously coinciding with the bursts of static that emitted from her apparatus.

It gave her chills.

"What is that thing?"

"...It is a portable EMP emission device."

"EMP...that...that's magnetic right?"

"Correct," GLaDOS affirmed, the words crackling out over the speakers. "The device you are holding is shielded against the magnetic fields. Evidently it is not perfect...Yet."

"Why is it down here?"

An uncharacteristic silence drifted down the other end.

"GLaDOS, we're friends right? You told me we were...If we're friends, then please tell me what this is about."

It was a long five minutes of cautious silence before she got an answer.

"You may not remember this. This happened not too long ago. Right before your accident, in fact. But, I recently discovered large scale magnetic pulses are a weakness of mine. My current chassis does not provide adequate protection against this, and as such this apparatus is an experiment to see if such protection can be feasibly developed. It appears that this device still needs work, but, as you can see...it is a start."

She sounded honest. But there was still some things that didn't quite add up...and her story gave her nothing but an empty answer.

"Why would you test such a thing here? In an office? That chamber down there looks like a better choice..."

GLaDOS hummed in agreement but said no more. Any more answers would probably have to wait until Chell could confront her more directly back in the hub.

"Well, if this helps you out, then..."

Chell raised her foot and slammed it down on the orb, crushing it as small electrical arcs bounced out from the machine's death.

Immediately a series of back up lights kicked on as wall panels that previously lied dead, jerked back to life.

"You did it!" GLaDOS called in relief over the loudspeaker system, which was in the process of repairing itself, and curiously enough, not over the apparatus.

A broken monitor that miraculously lie mostly salvageable in the corner, flickered on, as fragmented images of amber lines of code flashed across it. It was almost spooky to see a room that was all but a graveyard moments ago suddenly rise up as though possessed and begin to fix itself. It made her wonder just exactly how much control did GLaDOS have over this place?

"Excellent work. This chamber is reconnected to me now. I am back in full control of it. Well done, Chell."

She couldn't hold back a smile as she watched the room knit itself back together from its previously disaster-laden state. It was a relief to see the scorch-marked panels disappear and be replaced with fresh clean ones. Hearing the pure gratitude come from her snarky friend's voice was also a nice plus.

Heaving a tired sigh, Chell grinned. "Can I come back now for that break?"

"Of course you can! You can take as long a break as you need. I need to administer your physical to you as well. But, before you come back..."

Chell groaned inwardly. Here it comes...

"I want you to meet two units who are particularly grateful for what you've done for us..."

Quirking an eyebrow, Chell looked around the now lit room for the newcomers. It wasn't until something cold and hard gently poked her should before she realized that she wasn't alone.

Whipping around with wide eyes she caught sight of two large robots. Each wore the same white casing that GLaDOS herself donned on their bodies, albeit with a scratches and soot decorating it. And, just like GLaDOS herself, each bot had a single glowing optic. The stouter one on her left had a blue eye that seemed to be looking at her in curiosity. The taller one on her right had a bight vermillion eye that watched her with half shuttered eyes in happiness.

"They are the Cooperative Testing Initiative."

Chell stared in disbelief. The orange one waved and chirped a greeting as the blue one reached out to poke her once more.

"Chell, I would like for you to meet Orange and Blue."

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

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